Update: Israelis rescue five victims in Melcom disaster

Eight-member team from Israel who arrived in Ghana Thursday afternoon have rescued five more people in the collapsed Melcom shopping mall disaster.Earlier A nine-man Israeli Rescue Mission on Thursday joined the Ghanaian rescue mission at the Melcom Shopping Mall disaster site to assist locate and extract any remaining survivors. The team was briefed by some Ghanaian officials at the site. Earlier in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, an Israeli Embassy official, Eyal Lampert said the Israeli team was expected to work in collaboration with the detachment from the Field Engineer Regiment of the Ghana Army currently at the site. According to the Embassy official, the team would undertake initial assessment at the site using special equipment and sniffer dogs that would help identify the locations of possible survivors or corpses. He said Israel had in addition to the rescue to team put on standby about 150 support team and logistics including field hospitals and concrete cutters to move to Ghana should the initial assessment deem it necessary. The tireless efforts of the Field Engineer Regiment, NADMO (National Disaster Management Organisation) and other emergency services including the Ghana Police and the National Ambulance Service has led to the rescue of at least 51 persons from the rubble so far.